Copper Queen pic5 | COPPER QUEEN - Hard to find Justrite cast aluminum 6 hr. hand lamp with steel bail and hook, spiral feed, marked COPPER QUEEN on left side top with nickel-plated burner and wind screen, has correct internal gas screen (In 1912, the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company was having a difficult time getting the miners in the Bisbee (AZ) Mining District to convert from candlesticks to carbide lamps; fires in the wood square-set timbering from unattended candles was a significant hazard to the miners and could shut the mine down for months; the miners had been using candles with their personal candlesticks for over 30 years and were very unhappy with the change; to ease the situation, the Copper Queen Mining Company ordered 500 special Justrite cast aluminum hand lamps with the name “Copper Queen” instead of the usual name of “Little Giant” cast into the left side of the lamp; as a result, the Copper Queen became the most desirable and sought after carbide hand lamp by mineral, mining and Bisbee collectors; since the lamps were heavily used by the mining company and suffered damage underground, very few lamps in nice condition have survived which makes finding one even more difficult; the fact that this is the only carbide lamp named for a specific mine just adds to the desirability; see Bobrink, Mining Artifact Collector #8, p 12)